What's My Message? Series

What’s my Message?

Made for Mission: Week 3

Mark 5

Mark chapter 5 deals with Jesus’ encounter with a demonically possessed man. When we read this passage, or any passage within the Gospels, we see the events through the eyes of the disciples as they or others close to them wrote the New Testament.

But this morning, I want to take a look at this through the eyes of the demon possessed man. Why we are taking this approach this morning will become apparent and very applicable to our lives.

Let’s hear his story-

I have shared my story several hundred times but it never gets old. I start by telling about the day that I first heard the voices. They were so real and so near that I turned around to see who was whispering in my ear. It took me almost a day to realize the voice was coming from inside my own mind.

This voice was not one I wanted to hear. It said all kinds of horrible things about me and would not leave me alone. Then one day the voice took control of my own mouth and would speak random, horrible, and crazy things and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I couldn’t even ask for help, because every time I tried the horrible things I would say would cause people to run away from me.

I had already started to lose all hope when even more voices took over control of my body to the point that people, even my own family grabbed me and chained me up near the cemetery.

One day, I got out of my chains and was walking along the beach alone. For the first time, I noticed something about the voices- they were afraid. Of in the distance on the sea of Galilee was a boat heading toward shore. The voices were whispering to each other about who was on the boat- someone named Jesus and they were terrified of him.

The voices told me to run, but I strained with everything I had left to stay there, because whatever amount of sanity I had left decided that if they voices were afraid of this man named Jesus, he is someone I wanted, no someone I needed to meet.

This morning, we are in week three of our series titled, Made for Mission. A few weeks ago we kicked it off by saying that “We are all called”. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done, God has an exciting plan for your life. Then last week we answered the question “What’s my mission?” We shared that ultimately our mission is Jesus’ mission and it must be our 1st priority in life that everything revolves around.

So God has called us to a mission, and we have discovered what that mission is, so today we will spend time answering the question, “What’s my message?”

If you are already a Christian, then this is at the very heart of following Jesus.

This part of your mission is not natural, it’s something that you must be intentional about or you’re going to miss the reason God called you, equipped you, and put you right where you are in life.

But it’s one of the hardest things to do. In high school, I had to give a oral report on a paper I wrote, and it was the most frightening thing I had done to that point in life. Shaking, sweating, just wanted to run away.

Does that describe, at least a little bit, how you feel when the Holy Spirit prompts you to talk with someone about Jesus?

You just can’t seem to get the words out and you’re pretty sure you are confusing the other person more than you are helping them. Your brain turns to putty.

It’s easy to talk about virtually everything else, but once something faith based enters the equation, we freeze up.

I know, I’ve been there.

If you can relate to what I’m describing this morning, then this message should greatly encourage you.

We are going to look at this story from two different perspectives. You can start by turning to Mark 5 and later we’ll transition to Luke 8.

Bulletin list

Read Mark 5:1-2

They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes.2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him.

Some context here-

The fact that they went across the Sea of Galilee is hugely significant. The Sea of Galilee which the Jordan River starts at the bottom is the natural dividing line between Israel and pagan countries.

This was where the non-Jews lived. The history of this area traced all the way back to the Old Testament when the Israelites did not complete their job of clearing out all of the Promise Land like God had commanded. The people who lived there were the descendants of the people that they let stay, and probably the descendants of those Hebrews who had intermarried with those people.